cories-in-the-house

[cories-in-the-house]

Hello everybody. I know it’s been a long time since I’ve uploaded anything here, and I’d like to finally explain why.

In short, viral hemorrhagic septicemia ravaged my tank and killed every single last one of my cory cats. This was the mysterious illness that plagued the tank for months since late last winter. I finally found out what it was thanks to other cory owners on Reddit. VHS was introduced to my tank by the cories I bought from Petco. Since my last update here, VHS has taken the lives of Dumpling, Crouton, and the other cories. I was devastated. Worse yet, you cannot kill viruses that enter your aquarium—they’re immune to medicine. I didn’t want to keep posting here with a stream of bad news, it’s upsetting and humiliating.

Fletcher and Magnum, my black kuhli loaches, are miraculously alive and haven’t shown any signs of VHS, so they’re currently the only inhabitants of the 20 gallon long. The tank likely has to remain a closed system until I either move Fletcher and Magnum to a smaller tank, or until they die and I’d have to clean out the entire tank just to reuse it. I’ve thought about adding more black loaches so they aren’t lonely—they’ve been hiding a lot since the last cory died—but it’s a risk because my loaches could be asymptomatic carriers of VHS and start another mass die-off. I’d hate to inflict that on other innocent loaches, but I don’t know what to do about Fletcher and Magnum. *I forget if I ever gave an update on my loach Columbo, but he suddenly got ill with something I never identified and passed away. This was soon after an ich outbreak, but he didn’t look to have ich and I healed everyone else.

Right now due to life circumstances we may have to move rather suddenly in the coming few months, so it isn’t wise to try setting up a new small tank right now for the loaches. There’s also the issue of whenever the loaches would die, and then I’d have another tank to take down and either sell off or start again. I can’t house the loaches with Jovian because he hates their wriggly asses, plus it isn’t big enough for them. I hope to get more albino cories in the future, but as you could figure I’m not in a position to at the time being.

Overall this is a shitty situation. I never expected my fishkeeping dream to be crushed before even a year of owning fish. I never expected an unkillable virus to wipe out my tank. There have been and continue to be so many financial risks and losses due to all the illness.

Just as a warning to fellow cory enthusiasts, I’ve been informed that albino cories have recently seen a worrying increase in infection with viral hemorrhagic septicemia because of poor breeding practices and stores not looking into the health of these fish. It isn’t just Petco or Petsmart—I got cories from a huge local store well-known here and they were extremely ill. If I’m going to get albino cories again, I’m absolutely going to a reputable online breeder instead. I would get more cories from the pet store I got my original batch from, but they suddenly closed. Please please please be so careful where you source your cories, VHS is a horrifying, grotesque way to go. Look out for signs in your own cories—the biggest symptom of septicemia is internal bleeding, and it can get fucking nasty. Look out for blood spots around fin stalks, gills, and around internal organs. If you don’t put down infected fish, you might see them slowly bleed to death from the inside. I was too emotional to do so, but I wish I had.

I plan to post more here when I figure out my fish situation and plan out the financial aspect. I just wanted to post an update for anyone that follows me or comes across my account.

[cories-in-the-house]

peaceful…thriving…in their lane

Jovian being a beautiful yellow galaxy koi boi. He’s very much grown into his personality now that he’s settled in and doing well. He’s the new king of the tank, but he silently respects his court. The only time I’ve noticed him being feisty is around meal time, he’s a piggy just like Dumpling. I’m working on making him his own tank right now, it looks like it just finished cycling. Problem is I gotta decorate and get more plants!

The cories in the house have been good, no one seems to be showing ill signs. Dumpling I wasn’t sure for a sec recently, but she seems to be acting normal now.

This was mere seconds after Columbo explosively barged out from under the lotus pod, spooking Magnum and Fletcher out with him as if they were saying “what the hell?!” Magnum has been healing nicely, as well!

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I had to move my big ass 20gal long to a proper aquarium stand as my dresser was no longer suitable. it took several hours of draining and standing off with my fish to catch them, I miraculously caught all three detectives (loaches) before I caught all the cories. Jovian was really easy, I scooped him gently into my palm and placed him in his own bucket.

my plants are a massive mess, I had to uproot root systems I didn’t even know had grown so much. I have no idea how to replant my anubias yet, so one of them is sort of free floating at the moment.

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Jovian is a REALLY good boy! I’ve been training him to eat Bug Bite pellets off my pointer finger. he was wary at first, but tonight he was practically launching himself at the food to grab it. I never thought I’d find myself training a fish tricks/to like me but here I am 😳

[cories-in-the-house]

Bug Bites breakfast!

minor updates: Jovian has blossomed beautifully, the other tiny cory passed away from illness, and one of my loaches got covered in scratches.

aside from those downsides, everyone seems to be okay for the moment including the injured loach, who is still eating and full of energy. I’ve decided that one must be Magnum, it’s a very Magnum, P.I. thing to happen

I also found out that “tangerine koi” isn’t really a true morph name for bettas, but instead “yellow galaxy koi” which is exactly what Jovian is. he’s been doing well, his fins aren’t clamped anymore and he very readily eats. he’s gotten some more color too, truly worthy of the name Jovian!

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Garlic

It breaks my heart to say Garlic didn’t make it in the end.

I had to put him back into the hospital because he suddenly had a spot on his tail and a scratch on his side. The spot had turned into a hole in the middle of his tail fin, I have no idea what caused this but neither ich or epistylis seem to do that and no other spots showed up. After a few more days in the hospital Garlic became more sluggish and less responsive to touch and vibrations, but it was stressing him out even more to leave him in the hospital.

Last night I transferred him into the main tank but kept him enclosed in a breeder box to keep him separated in case something happened. This morning he was gone.

Garlic was a brave little guy the whole time I’ve known him. He grew his whiskers back after having none and I was so proud of him. Whatever’s been going on with him, I guess his tiny body couldn’t handle it anymore.

The other cories are currently thriving. One of the new cories actually looks a lot like Garlic—tiny, paler than everyone else, but definitely isn’t him. I can tell by the whisker shape and taller dorsal fin. I’ll have to keep an eye on him to make sure he stays okay, I have really no idea why some albino cories are paler than others.

I hope from here on out I’ll have happier things to say and show you, with everyone else settling in. 🤍

[cories-in-the-house]

Meet the even newer addition!

Jovian, my tangerine galaxy koi! He was a lucky find at Petco, he seemed fairly new to the store and he wasn’t diseased or dying like half the other ones at this place.

I named him Jovian, also just Jove for short, after the term you use to refer to things related to Jupiter or Jovian planets. His coloring reminded me of Jupiter, with the scattered white and iridescent galaxy scales and overall dusty orange coloring with yellows, blues, and blacks resembling the planet and its many raging storms.

Getting a koi betta wasn’t exactly in my plans. I got him after spotting him while getting more cories. I also did plan originally to get a cellophane or otherwise ghostly whitish betta to go for a spooky theme in my tank, but if there’s any other betta morph I do like, it’s koi and I have seen a few example of bettas that look similar to Jovian. It’s gotta be my dream betta next to mermaid color, honestly. He’s a beautiful boy, I hope I can get him to thrive in his new ecosystem.

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apparently one of my fish is suffering from ‘down bad syndrome’

they’re doing a mating dance 😭 mating dances are when a male or several males chase a female around very closely and get right up in her face

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New additions

Got three more albino cories tonight to add to the Tori’s Cories gang!

Biscuit, Schnitzel, and Meringue… My stepdad and brother said they were gonna name them no matter what, so looks like I’m sticking with names after all (if I can even keep track of them)

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The Cories and Kuhlis enjoying a hefty meal of Repashy Soilent Green sprinkled with Bug Bites 💚 I wish Sesame and Poirot were there to enjoy the cake with them but I’m happy to see everyone else is thriving once more

[cories-in-the-house]

Garlic is very happy so far to be back in the main tank! He’s been swimming normally and being active, sniffing around plants and rocks and digging through the substrate just like he should be. I think transferring him to the main tank again has helped to melt some of his stress away. In the hospital tank he was sitting around, then would start darting around when I came to check on him and surfing the glass. He hasn’t done that at all since going back home.

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Garlic is stable

I wanted to report in about Garlic! For the past week, he was in a hospital tank for which I was doing daily water changes. I was convinced it was all for naught, but somehow he is still alive even after the “death spiral”. He has not exhibited spiraling since the day he first did it, he has not shown buoyancy problems at all.

Him staying alive is truly a miracle. I thought he would have died within the next 24-48 hours—after all, that’s often how organ failure goes. But I’m wondering if it wasn’t organ failure, that maybe something else about the tank disrupted him. I think I said before how I had the tank full of overdosed medicine for a while when I was treating Sesame and how it could have disturbed Garlic. He’s small, my tiniest cory cat—the medicine may have made him ill or woozy. It’s also possible he gulped an air bubble that caused the buoyancy issues, sometimes cories will do that on accident when they come up for air.

Because I haven’t been able to identify markers for known illnesses, I have no idea what went wrong with him and what his true stability is. However, I didn’t want to keep him in hospital too much longer. Crouton has seemed depressed, Dumpling has been on edge. These are schooling fish, they were very clearly feeling the absence of their friend. Garlic himself was also stressed out, but still did not die. I’ve decided to place Garlic back into the main tank tonight to see how he does. I felt so bad looking at how upset everyone was.

If Garlic continues to be stable into the weekend, I will be picking up at least three more cories for a total of six so the school is a healthier size. They could really, really use the socializing after all of this heartache. I will let you know how everything goes, as usual.

Pictured: Dumpling, left. Garlic freshly added, right. They are my largest and smallest respectively.

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Garlic

It’s one thing after another with my fish. I noticed Garlic seemed a little off since the Sesame ordeal, but couldn’t tell if something really was wrong. He spent more time sitting around, while Crouton and Dumpling have been actively sniffing around as much as they usually do.

Earlier today, I saw Garlic seemingly having buoyancy issues—he had trouble sitting upright at times, tilting a lot to one side. I started to suspect swim bladder disorder, but only just started noticing the tilting today and not in the days before, and it wasn’t frequent today, so I didn’t know what to think. I figured he may be stressed either from one less cory in the school or my tank not having blackwater because of all the recent water changes for Sesame. So, I added tannins to the tank to make it murky and dark since my fish loved it when I had it that way.

When I came home after picking up my brother, I was beyond shocked to see Garlic laying completely on his side, not moving. I thought he was suddenly dead. I grabbed my net to scoop him, only for the water movement to spook him into action and I was horrified to see him go into a “death spiral”. Death spirals are when cories can’t control their buoyancy while swimming and they start spiraling in circles—it is usually indicative of swim bladder disease along with organ failure.

I didn’t have a hospital tank set up yet, so I quickly set up water and a spare heater in my 5 gallon bucket with very few media from the main tank, a partial dose of Kanaplex, then placed Garlic inside. He initially stayed on his side, unmoving but breathing, but since then he has been able to keep himself upright and swim carefully. I’ve since gone to Petco and set up a real hospital tank with an airstone and the heater. Garlic has not spiraled or even had trouble sitting upright since “recovering” in the bucket, so I’m not sure what to expect at this point.

I don’t know what the fresh hell is going on and why this is happening. I’m wondering if he caught something from Sesame, or if something was in the tank and he caught it a while back before showing. My water quality has not been downright poor. I had that spike a few weeks ago, but my ammonia and nitrites have been 0 since then with every water change. The water has been exceedingly clean now.

Garlic has made such great strides since my getting him in the summer—growing back his barbels, being an active happy little swimmer. I would be devastated to lose him after he’s done so so well, but as far as I’m aware once a cory exhibits death spiraling, it is often too late. I’m going to be traveling to Washington for a few days with my mom for something already pre-planned and very important, so I’m going to see if I can teach my stepdad to do water changes—if Garlic is still even alive by Thursday.

Once we come home, I plan to get more cories soon after to put in the main tank to support the school size. Being down two cories in so little time has been confusing and worrying to Dumpling and Crouton. I’ll update you all, again.

[cories-in-the-house]

Goodbye, Sesame

I am heartbroken to report that Sesame has finally passed away.

When I went to feed the fish earlier, Sesame did not want to eat and instead chose to gently drift behind the Amazon sword planted at the back of the tank to be alone.

Sesame wanted a shaded, calming place to pass, and I would leave him be. I left the lights dim all day to create a relaxing atmosphere.

I checked on him periodically and found him a few minutes ago laying against driftwood, gone. I buried him in the garden where I buried Poirot. Every time I blink my eyes I see the image of Sesame lifeless.

I never could have imagined losing Sesame this way. I was so excited to see my four original cories grow up together, I was expecting everything to go right. Sesame passing is a direct result of me. It is going to take me a while to forgive myself, but I can only hope Sesame knew I was trying.

I told him last night that I love him. I hope he knew that, too.

The mistakes I made with Sesame will not happen twice. My mom told me that mistakes with fish are like aviation accidents. A great tragedy has occurred, but we learn from it to make improvements… Now I must focus on the remaining fish and look to the future. Everyone else is healthy and strong. I hope to keep all my fish healthy and strong as life goes on.

Swim in Peace, Sesame

[cories-in-the-house]

Sesame

I’ve been trying everything I can to heal Sesame, but he has only progressively gotten worse. His second dorsal spine rotted completely off, which is like losing a hunk of flesh. His anal fin is rotting as well, close to rotting off. His tail is becoming more red and inflamed, and Sesame is looking ghostly white even for an albino cory. I would post a picture of his status, but I don’t want anyone to remember an image of him in pain. He doesn’t look good.

He still gets active, but more time is spent resting the past few days and I may not be able to do much more for him despite wishful thinking. I don’t want to euthanize him because he still seems to be fighting. I want to give him that fighting chance and I want to see if the medication can do anything.

It is my fault he ended up this way in the first place. I feel deeply woeful knowing I likely won’t get to see him grown with the rest of his family. My heart aches so much and I feel sick just thinking about him passing and how preventable everything was. Even when I try to do everything right, I get something wrong—which is a constant for fishkeeping as a whole, I guess. If Sesame were able to speak, I would apologize so much and let him know how much I love him.

I’m going to be getting more cories in the near future to have a better school size. But this time, I don’t think I will name any of them for my own good. I’ve gotten so attached to my cories and loaches as is, naming them makes it hurt worse when something happens. Not that I want to completely detach myself from them, I just want to make it a little easier on my emotions. The current fish will keep their names, if I can identify them down the road.

That is the latest update on Sesame. I will let you all know of course when something happens.

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hey all! sorry I haven’t even around as much, I had a scare with Sesame and wanted to keep an eye on him and figure out a better feeding method to keep the water stabilized.

first off, Sesame got a piece of sticker from my gallon bucket stuck to his second dorsal fin. I managed to get it off, but in the procedure I tore his fin down to the spine of the fin. and a week or so after that, suddenly one of his bottom fins was damaged. part of the problem may have been the sudden toxic nitrite and ammonia spike I had, due to the new way I was feeding. I miscalculated how feeding them every other day and leaving the food in would be okay, and it was not.

I’ve since gotten the tank a feeding dish to keep things clean and will take the food out after ten minutes of eating. that way the fish can eat every day and I can easily clean up (they always lose the food or shove it under something and it breaks down into ammonia). so far nothing has happened again to Sesame since, but it’s going to take some time for his fins to heal and I can only hope with all my heart nothing else happens to him.